Ciego de Ávila

History

The city of Ciego de Ávila was founded by 1840, having at the time 263 inhabitants. In 1877, its municipal government was created and the city became independent of the city of Morón. Ciego de Ávila gained importance when the Spanish army built a fortified military line, known as Trocha de Júcaro a Morón, to impede the pass of insurrectionist forces to the western part of the island during the 1st War of Independence (1868–1878). This "trocha", which made this region famous, was thought to be strong enough to stop the Cuban forces, but was not able to stop the pass of General Máximo Gómez and several hundred men. Many of the old Spanish colonial buildings in Ciego de Ávila (such as the Teatro Principal) were commissioned under Angela Hernández, viuda de Jiménez, a rich socialite who battled to create a cultural mecca in her hometown.

Geography

Ciego de Ávila lies on the Carretera Central highway and on a major railroad. Its port, Júcaro, lies south-southwest on the coast of the Gulf of Ana Maria of the Caribbean Sea, in the adjacent municipality of Venezuela. The city is located about east of Havana and west of the city of Camagüey. It was part of the Camagüey Province until 1976, when Fidel Castro's government made Ciego de Ávila the capital of the newly created Ciego de Ávila Province. By 1945, the municipality was divided into the barrios of Angel Castillo, Ceballos, Guanales, Jagüeyal, Jicotea, José Miguel Gómez, Júcaro, La Ceiba, Majagua, Norte, San Nicolás and Sur. After the new political and administrative division of Cuba in 1976, it was divided into four municipalities (Majagua, Ciego de Ávila, Baragua, and Venezuela). Ciego de Ávila experiences a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw).

Most-observed species

• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  264
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  229
• Cuban Emerald

  Riccordia ricordii (Gervais, 1835) · Aves
  214
• American Redstart

  Setophaga ruticilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  200
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  200
• Smooth-billed Ani

  Crotophaga ani Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  196
• Northern Parula

  Setophaga americana (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  194
• Black-and-white Warbler

  Mniotilta varia (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  192